The Benefits of Having Pets at Home for Priests and Religious

Fr. Abe with the Community's pet Frankie

Every Catholic priests and religious have voluntarily taken the vow or promise of Celibate Chastity. This vow or promise is an act of following Christ the High Priest of the New Covenant who didn't marry a single woman and instead took the Church as His Bride. And so, the consecrated persons in the Catholic Church are doing the same, dedicating their lives for the good of the Church. Instead of living with a single person or biological family they became fathers or mothers or brothers and sisters to the Community of Believers that is the Church.

Frankie is usually tough and courageous but here he was so afraid of Camera

However, serving the Church requires not only faith and dedication. It also entails prudence. Because leading parish organizations such as the choir, the altar servers, etc. could lead to familiarization and deep emotional, pyschological attachments that could prove fatal to one's vow of chastity because Satan could use innocent people as a bait to lure us to violate the vows. Thus, the Church Ministers must be close to their people but there must be detachment also. We must be friendly but there is a limit. The self-giving must be total but not exclusive - just like the way the Lord Jesus lived His life on earth and the way the Apostles lived their own. Absolute surrender to God, complete dedication to the Church but detached from exclusive relationship.

Frankie being carressed by our cook, Manang Amie

O boy, this is difficult and that is the reason why few can take such responsibility and fewer still are completing the preparations for it as shown in the mortality rates in our seminaries... I mean the number of seminarians failing to attain ordinations. And, even among those who are already ordained there are still few who fall from their consecration.

How can this be overcome? Well, the spiritual masters gave some suggestions:

1. Deepening of one's faith in God and intensification of prayer life. Because fidelity and endurance and fortitude against temptations are impossible for men but possible only in God. It is the grace of the Holy Spirit that makes us holy and will empower us to remain in the state of grace.

2. Continuous nourishment of the Word of God and the Holy Eucharist. The Word of God and the Sacraments of the Church are powerful weapons entrusted by Christ to His Church to combat the snares of the Devil.

3. Divert our energies instead to a single or few persons to others such as in Reading Spiritual writings, constant studies of theology and things of God, active participations in various activities that involves the Community, engaging into music, arts, sports etc.

For music, it is quite obvious that the religious and priests and seminarians of the Church have taken this seriously. Magnificent and beautiful songs and music are being composed in our monasteries and seminaries. And, these songs and music became sources of spiritual graces for many. The same thing can be said of arts. The Church produced artworks that is a wonder in aesthetics but also of great value to the point that they contributed to the rise of civilizations and are capable of elevating the soul to spiritual truths.

Engaging in sports are also good. The seminarians and priests are usually active in Soccer or Basketball tournaments. Others are active in Tennis or Golf. Unfortunately these games are mostly for the rich and the influential in our society. Playing golf in expensive golf club could be detrimental for priestly ministry in our setting also. Thus, I have heard some practical suggestions that priests and religious should also take good care not only of their community members and parishioners but also of their pets. Of course human persons are irreplaceable but it is also beneficial for us humans regardless of status to have pets by which we learn more ways to love, to care, to understand, to be patient, to be diligent and to be faithful. Thus, even the animals could help us serve God and be faithful to Him.